He held a wide-ranging meeting with Prof Dr Fazal Ahmad Khalid, Rector GIK Institute here on Thursday. Prof Dr Wasim Khan, Pro-Rector Academics, deans, directors also attended the meeting. Later, Farooqi addressed the students as well.
During meeting he said: “We should focus on areas where we could work together. We could benefit from each other’s experience in the power sector to meet the increasing demand of the people with the utilisation of the latest technology and knowledge.”
He suggested that the faculty should work for a month in industry every year, hoping that it would boost the academia-industry collaboration. “It (working in industry by academia) should be mandatory. Pakistanis are second to none but they need a track which should be provided to them,” he said. He further said that our problems are not complicated and could be easily resolved with hard work and determination.
The academia of GIK Institute said that the government should engage experts of universities as a working group while giving legal cover to the entire process then the interaction would be regular and durable and the whole exercise would be beneficial for the country’s industry.
NEPRA chief also spoke in a seminar on ‘NEPRA role in Pakistan’s power sector.’ He also visited the modern laboratory in the faculty of Electrical Engineering and Civil Engineering. He also interacted with students.
Prof Khalid said that there is a gap of communication between academia and industry, both are required to play their due role and the government should facilitate the interaction. “The things are now changing,” he said.